English Champion

Danny's first professional title win came on the undercard of Jonathon Thaxton's European title victory over Juan Diaz Melero at the Norwich Showground on 4 October 2008. The experienced Steve Spartacus represented a step up for McIntosh but he won in the 7th round to claim the title. McIntosh has since made two defences of the belt beating Nottingham's Rod Anderton on 6 December 2008^[2] and Southampton's Matthew Barney on 28 March 2009.^[3]

On 18 July 2009 McIntosh challenged Commonwealth champion Nathan Cleverly for the vacant British title in what was only his 11th fight as a professional. He was defeated for the first time when, having been knocked down on four occasions, the fight was stopped in the 7th round.^[4] Following the fight McIntosh said he would learn from the "nightmare", saying that Cleverly had taught him a boxing lesson. His next fight on 19 February 2010 saw him put that night behind him with a third successful defence of his English title. The fight, on the undercard of a Ricky Hatton promoted bill, saw him retain the title with a 2nd round stoppage over former British champion Tony Oakey.^[5] McIntosh stepped up to cruiserweight in his next fight at the Castle Leisure Center in Bury on 6 November 2010 beating journeyman Hastings Rasani in the 3rd round of what was a non-title contest.^[6]

European Title challenge

On 22 January 2011 McIntosh traveled to France to challenge Thierry Karl for the vacant European title. Despite being behind on points, McIntosh was able to take control of the fight in the 11th round prompting the referee to stop the fight and hand the title to McIntosh.^[7] The first defence of the title was, however, to end in defeat when on 7 May 2011 McIntosh traveling to Germany to defend against local boxer Eduard Gutknecht, losing in the 8th round.^[8]